Chances
by EmilyBiebs
Summary: Going down to visit her best friend, australian Emily Scott never counted on the chance meeting. When he appears repeatedly after that, what is Emily to expect from those small chances? Louis Tomlinson/OC includes all of One Direction
1. Chapter 1

_So here is my second story that I actually think is worth other people reading. It's set in the summer before One Direction being out their album, and most of the information will be edited to fit with the story. _

_Disclaimer: I don't own any of the boys, and neither do I own their girlfriends or their label or management. _

_Hope you like it!_

Chapter 1

The people I called my best friends were a girl called Sarah, and a guy called Conor. They were the only people who truly welcomed me into their school when I joined almost a term into the year, fresh from Australia and with one hell of a strong accent. That was last summer, and the change from Australia to Stevenage in England was so huge, I would be eternally grateful for their support through the endless teasing about my accent, which was still almost as strong as when I had moved here a year ago.

Sadly, Sarah was also in the year above me in school, so she had spent the summer moving into her new apartment in London, all ready for her first year at university. I, on the other hand, was spending the last week of my summer holidays with her there before it was back to school for me, a prospect of A2 Levels in year 13.

And so now, on the first evening of me staying at Sarah's, I was standing in the hallway outside her apartment, waiting impatiently for her to finally get ready to go out for the night. I was wearing a tight orange and yellow floral dress that was very short and had a puffy skirt, along with my favourite leather jacket. I had light blonde hair which was dip dyed purple that merged into pink and then my natural hair colour. My eyes were big and blue, and I had naturally tanned skin from Australia, and was considered quite skinny.

"Sarah! Hurry up!" I shouted up the stairs that led to her door. She wouldn't have heard me anyway because the music was playing so loudly, but it was worth a try. I felt my phone vibrate, so I rummaged through my bag trying to find it, but when I finally got it out to read the text my ID had fallen out with it. I sighed, getting slowly frustrated, and went to pick it up, but not before I managed to flick it under the door of the next apartment.

"Fuck…" I whispered, giggling to myself. I looked around, unsure of what to do as I bit my lip out of habit. Then I shook my head. As much as I hated awkward social situations, I knocked on the door of apartment 16B.

I was totally thrown when the door was opened by none other than Zayn Malik of One Direction. After a second or two I cleared my throat, blushing lightly at my total idiocy. I spoke hesitantly,

"Erm, hi! I'm so, so sorry if I'm disturbing you, but I'm staying with Sarah down the hall, and we're going out tonight, and I kind of dropped my ID under your door, it's right there…" I rambled on. Zayn stared at me in a confused state, but smiled warmly when I trailed off. Chuckling to himself, he bent down and picked up my ID.

"ZAYN! WHERE ARE YOU?" I heard someone shout from inside the apartment almost desperately.

"By the door!" he yelled back over his shoulder, still holding my ID. I heard a loud scuffle and running footsteps as two people shouted,

"Wait! You can't leave without us, hold on!" I saw a mass of limbs sprinting behind Zayn, and then they came screeching to a halt beside him, as he smiled at me apologetically. I stood in awe. How on earth was it possible for three guys in one go to be so attractive? The first thing that caught my eyes was the mass of curls on Harry Style's head, but then I glanced slightly to the left to see the biggest grin I had ever laid eyes upon. His hair was all swept over to one side, bits flicking here and there all over the place in disarray that was clearly planned. However, it was the mischievous sparkle in his eyes as he let them travel all over me that really caught my attention. I had no idea how long I was left standing there, trying to retain a normal exterior when Louis was staring straight into my eyes. I found myself unable to look away.

"Well… erm…" Zayn broke the silence, and my eyes snapped away from Louis' to look at Zayn. "So," he said, looking at my ID, "Emily Scott, here's your identification. I'm Zayn by the way," he carried on, sticking out his hand for me to shake. I took it gladly.

"Hi!" Harry suddenly said from next to Zayn, making me giggle quietly.

"Hey," I replied, and then there was a small silence, which I decided to break. "Well, I'm going to wait in the hall then, I'm going out but Sarah's taking _ages_ so…" I trailed off again. Louis furrowed his eyebrows, confused.

"You're going out without shoes on?" he asked innocently. My eyes widened and I took a look at my feet, which did turn out to be bare. I hit myself on the forehead and laughed at myself.

"Well, I'll see you around sometime!" I said to them before running back up the stairs. I quickly picked out a pair of black lace-up wedges, and put them on whilst telling Sarah to hurry the fuck up again. Luckily she was almost done, so I went downstairs to wait again. I slid down the banister of the stairs sideways and laded safely, if not somewhat precariously on my heels.

I heard someone wolf whistle behind me. Turning around slowly, I saw the same three guys standing where I had been before, now too wearing shoes and looking ready to go out themselves. They were all pointing back at Louis, obviously regarding the wolf whistle. Louis, however, was pointing adamantly at Zayn.

"I swear it was Louis!" Zayn said, making him giggle slightly and shrug. I looked down at what I was wearing and frowned to myself. I looked back up at them.

"Really?" I asked before I could stop myself, giving Louis a weird look, which he only returned with his own, making me totally miss the concerned look that passed between Harry and Zayn. "So why are you guys out here?"

"We're going out for a meeting at the recording studio," Louis said excitedly, making me chuckle to myself. I nodded absentmindedly, running my hand through my hair nervously as the silence dawned on me. Luckily, I heard someone walk down the stairs behind me, so I spun around to see Sarah walking down the stairs in a pale blue dress.

I grinned, running up to hug her and telling her how pretty she looked. I then simply leant forward so I could ruffle up my hair upside-down, and flipped it back up in one movement. I grabbed Sarah's hand and strode past all of the guys, Harry and Louis watching me intently. Deciding to be a bit cheeky, I winked at them and ran down the final flight of stairs to go out for the night.

Once we were outside I hit Sarah's arm as hard as I could. She screamed and glared at me, looking completely incredulous.

"How come you never told me you live next to One Direction?" she smiled sheepishly.

"Surprise?"


	2. Chapter 2

_This one is a lot longer than the first chapter, I hope you enjoy it! _

_Also, please don't forget to review, even if it's only a word, it helps me realise people are genuinely enjoying it._

_Again, I don't own any of the boys. _

Chapter 2

We giggled hysterically as we tried to climb the stairs of the apartment block without making too much noise. It was 3 in the morning, and I was wasted out of my mind. I'd taken my shoes off hours ago, but I still had immense trouble getting up the stairs. Eventually we managed to find our way into the apartment, and I simply crashed on the sofa, falling asleep almost instantly.

I groaned, lifting my head a couple of inches and blinking multiple times before Sarah's apartment came into focus. I lifted my arm to check the time, and found that it was already 1 in the afternoon. Groaning again, I moved as slowly as I could to stop my head from pounding.

As I padded towards the kitchen equally slowly, I noticed a note on the counter.

"Emily, josh called earlier and wanted to see me today, so I'll be back after dinner, around 9. See you then! Here's some paracetamol to help your head!

Sarah.

p.s. Conor called around 11, he sounded really worried, so I told him you'd call back."

I wordlessly picked up the tablets and made my way to the bathroom, showering for about half an hour and changing into a pair of shorts and a loose top before making myself a strong cup of coffee and settling down to breakfast. Then I called Conor.

"Hey babes," I said seductively but jokingly, trying to muster up the energy with my still pounding head.

"Emily! Are you okay?" he said frantically.

"Yeah, I'm fine, why?"

"You called me last night, you sounded like you were crying and you said you'd really hurt yourself," he elaborated. I put my head in my hands on the table, annoyed at myself.

"I'm so sorry, people really need to take my phone off me when I'm drunk, I was out with Sarah last night and things got a little crazy…"

"You are too stupid for your own good something chronic," he joked, and I could hear the smile in his voice. I laughed,

"Thanks dickface! Coming from you who couldn't even tell I was drunk! Don't you think that says something about how well you know me?" I smiled myself, noticing that I was feeling better by the second. Conor always had this effect on me, his mood was infectious, and so I was laughing by the time I reached the bathroom to clean myself up a bit.

"I don't know you? Considering last year you might want to rethink that statement darling," he said smugly. I blushed at the thought. We had a lot of history, especially in the last year.

"Oh ha-ha, very funny you little fucker," I said wiping off last night's makeup and getting out some light concealer for the bags under my eyes.

"So what happened last night anyway?" Conor asked.

"I genuinely have no idea, I can't remember anything past going to some club around half twelve… oh my god!" I suddenly screamed.

"Whoa, calm down psycho woman, what happened?"

"I met One Direction last night!"

"Ooh-la-la… who?" I sighed in frustration.

"You know! Those guys in a band I think are ridiculously good looking? I was talking to them for a while because they live around here, they're even better looking in real life," there were a few seconds of silence on his end.

"Well check you out, little miss seduction," I laughed out loud, now finished with my touch up of makeup and starting to brush my teeth.

"I never said anything happened!" I protested.

"Are you brushing your teeth?" Conor asked. I stopped.

"Yeah…"

"Retard."

"Fuck you." I retaliated, spitting the toothpaste into the sink just as the doorbell rang loudly. I walked to the door, talking to Conor,

"Hold on, the door went, I'll just get this," I said to Conor, opening the door to come face to face with Louis Tomlinson himself.

"Hi," he said, happily but with a hint of shyness. I vaguely heard Conor screaming something on the phone, so I put my hand over it, unable to stop myself from letting out a small laugh.

"Hey," I replied quietly, my heart beating faster as I looked into his eyes.

"Erm, I know this is a little forward and unexpected, but we saw and heard Sarah leave this morning, so I… so we were wondering if you wanted to come over to Zayn's for a bit?" he asked, stumbling over his words slightly. I smiled genuinely, putting on my red Toms by the door to go with my navy shorts and white top.

"Definitely, I'd love to," I said, "I'll just say bye to him," I continued, pointing at my phone.

"Sure," Louis said, smiling with his hands in his pockets.

"Hey Conor?"

"Oh so now you come back to me!" he screamed, pretending to be offended. I laughed at him.

"Oh shut it you penis, I'm leaving you anyway, I'm going over to Zayn's with Louis so I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Yeah sure, and I'll see you soon for some seriously fancy banging, yes?" he said in a deliberately creepy seductive voice. I giggled, answering the same way,

"Oh yeah baby, but it's our little secret right?"

"Always was, always will be! Now fuck off, I love you!"

"Love you too you crazy mofo!" I said before hanging up, smiling like an idiot. I looked up to see Louis staring at me and looking completely and utterly baffled.

"That was Conor…" I trailed off as we walked into Zayn's apartment. Louis was obviously also alone today.

"He your boyfriend?" he asked. I giggled slightly, shaking my head.

"No way, I'm single, he doesn't really do relationships. But no, he's my best friend." Louis nodded, and sat down on a bright red sofa. I took a look around the apartment, and it made me smile to see how colourful and homely is was when compared to Sarah's, as she preferred things to look more pristine and more formal.

"You can sit down you know," Louis said, and I looked back at him, sitting down on the sofa slightly awkwardly. Louis, on the other hand, looked completely relaxed, spread out so he was facing me.

"So how was your night last night?" he asked. I groaned, laughing to myself.

"If I could tell you I would, I can't remember a thing," his eyebrows raised.

"Wow, that good?"

"Apparently," I shrugged. He whistled appreciatively. "How about yours? You went to the recording studio right?" he nodded, immediately smiling.

"It was great, we got given a couple of demos of songs we've done, and they sound really great. Then we had a look through some new ideas too," I smiled warmly at him, it was obvious how much music meant to him.

"Sounds brilliant, I've always been slightly jealous of anyone who had exceptional musical talent, I wish I was better than I am," his eyebrows furrowed.

"You're very hard on yourself," he said.

"Not really, I like to think I'm just realistic," I said, smiling to lighten to conversation. Louis leant forward,  
"Come on, I'm sure you've got some talent, it's unfair to just write it off like that," I grimaced.

"I guess I sort of sing, but doesn't everyone?" he shrugged.

"I'm going to have to hear you sometime then, cause I think I'll be the judge of that!" I laughed it off, taking it as a complete joke, and Louis only smiled at me.

"So, you invited me here, what shall we do?" I asked him, getting more comfortable on the sofa.

"I was rather hoping you were partial to some Mario Kart actually," he replied with a cheeky grin.

"Are you kidding? I'm always partial to anything Mario related!" I practically shouted, getting excited, earning a high five from Louis.

And so it was that an hour later I jumped up on the sofa, laughing victoriously as I beat Louis for the millionth time. I punched the air happily, and then turned to Louis himself, who was now sitting facing me, laughing at my antics.

"I totally owned your sorry ass!" I said goadingly, sticking out my tongue. He narrowed his eyes at me playfully,

"Oh that's it!" he burst out, and hooked his hands around my ankles, pulling them sharply so I fell down onto my back on the sofa, laughing hysterically as he started tickling my waist. He loomed over me, sitting on my legs to stop me from kicking out, grinning to himself.

"Stop! Please! I'll do anything!" I managed to get out between gasps for air. Louis stopped suddenly, pinning my arms safely above my head.

"Only if you say I'm the best Mario Kart player of all time!" he threatened. I gave him a sarcastic look before shouting,  
"Never!" and making him immediately start tickling me again. The force of it made me scream with laughter and try desperately to get him off me, and I ended up pushing him off the sofa, but forgot that he was holding onto me, and pulled me with him.

I landed on top of him, and we both fell silent for a few moments, before Louis' phone vibrated loudly in the front pocket of his jeans, making me jump. He laughed at me, and I sat up, him following suit as he answered his phone.

"Hello?" he said, and I got up and straightened myself out. "Yes there is a girl here," I looked over, confused. "Yes you may come in, this is your apartment! Bye," I heard Louis say, and right on cue the door opened and a sheepish looking Zayn walked in.

"Hey guys, you alright?" he asked. I nodded, smiling.

"Yeah, I just whooped Louis' ass at Mario Kart,"

"Liar!" Louis screamed, lunging at me so I shouted in surprise and hid behind Zayn.

"Hold on, you're Emily from last night aren't you?" he said to me. I nodded and smiled, embarrassed.

"Yeah, Louis invited me over cause Sarah went out," I explained. Zayn nodded and smiled back at me, before I yawned, suddenly quite tired, and stretched out my arms over my head.

"Whoa, that is a hench bruise!" Louis said, now sitting on the arm of the sofa.

"What?" I asked, totally confused.

"That bruise on your stomach, it's huge!" I furrowed my eyebrows, still ever more confused. I lifted up my shirt to have a look and saw a bruise the size of my hand, taking up the majority f one side of my stomach, made up of an assortment of blues, purples and yellows.

"Oh wow, that's what I was going on about last night…"

"What?" Zayn asked.  
"Apparently I called my best friend Conor and told him I'd really hurt myself or something,"

"What the hell did you do last night!" Louis asked, laughing slightly. I grinned cheekily.

"Come to think of it, I do seem to remember falling down a flight of stairs at some club," Zayn's eyes bugged slightly at the thought.

"Thank god you were drunk then!" he said. I giggled,

"Tell me about it," I mumbled. We all stood in silence for a few seconds, when the door burst open, and in strode Niall as dramatically as possible, swinging his arms from side to side manically.

"Fear not! Niall is here, and there's plenty to go around!" I stared incredulously.

"I'll have some first then!" Louis shouted in an American accent, jumping on him and making them both fall to the floor. Liam and Harry then casually strode in behind them, Liam completely ignoring the scene, obviously used to it. Harry, however, jumped on the pile pretending to be a raving fan-girl. I laughed freely, doubling over at the hilarity in front of me.

Niall started crawling away from the pile, dragging himself across the floor dramatically, and reached out a hand towards me, saying,

"Oh strange girl who I've never met before, please help a poor dying boy from the most painful death of all!" I giggled to myself as he pretended to die in front of me, not even noticing the inquisitive look Liam was sending in my direction. The bundle of Louis and Harry suddenly stopped moving at Niall's words.

"Girls? What girl?" Harry said loudly, scanning the room until he saw me, staring for a few seconds, so I waved awkwardly. "Emily!" he then shouted, stumbling onto his feet and running over to squeeze me into one of the tightest hugs I'd ever had. I laughed with them all, feeling happier than I had in a long time. Their moods were just as contagious as Conor's, and for some reason they just made me happy.

"Ah, Emily from last night?" Liam spoke. I nodded, suddenly feeling quite shy with all the guys' attention focused on me. "The guys told me and Niall about you at the recording studio," he explained, also giving me a quick hug. I then noticed that Niall was still playing dead, so I crouched down in front of him, whispering,

"Is the poor dying boy dead?" I asked. He turned his head marginally to look at me with his brilliant blue eyes.

"Not quite dead madam, but he desperately needs the kiss of life!" I laughed and stood back up.

"Well in that case he can go ahead and die," all of the guys laughed, before Louis spoke up, his hand on his chest theatrically.

"Harsh words, but a fair trial." Again I giggled, sending him a quick grin.

"And for the record, you laugh like a four year old," I heard Harry say from next to me. I turned to stare at him, only receiving a very cheeky wink in reply, but wondering where the hell that came from.

"I'm not entirely sure whether to take that as a good or bad thing?" I saw Liam fall onto the sofa out of the corner of my eyes, and then he spoke, smiling at me.

"It's a compliment, don't worry. You learn to recognise them after some time, and trust me, there are many worse laughs out there!" I smiled back at him, and then we all crowded around him to sit on the sofa or on the floor to chat.


End file.
